Hi folks,

Feeling a bit tense? Well, it’s your lucky day – how about a quick de-stressing massage?

Cost: only $10 for 15 minutes. The rest is paid for out of our Health and Safety Award grant. Just to be clear (because sometimes it pays to be) massages are fully clothed. Basically, it’s head, neck and shoulders. Payment in advance, before the end of this week would be good.

When: Tuesday September 30th. There are 3 time slots left so contact myself or Felicity before they’re snapped up.

Times:
9.30-9.45
10.30-10.45
12.15-12.30.

Contact:
Felicity Watson: xt4043
Simon Cooke: xt8777

Where: we’ll trial it in the unpacking room part of Library Access and Collections (Puaka-James Hight, Room 519) but might need to book a more private room on subsequent visits depending on moans, groans and snapping of bones [kidding].

If there is enough interest we will hold more sessions at a later date.

Our massage therapist is called Debbie Johnstone and she works for BodyWorkz.

Cheers
Simon

Short walks may reverse harm of prolonged sitting.

A recent study at Indiana University has found that the effects of sitting for prolonged periods can be slowed or reversed by taking 5 minute walks regularly through the day.

Our award-winning exercise breaks are an important way to keep us all healthy. It seems a 5 min walk is a great alternative for those who sit all day, but should be done every hour.

Here is the link to article.

Jenny

Library Access and Collections staff are basking in the glory of Simon Cooke and Felicity Watson who starred in the recent 2014 Health, Safety and Wellbeing Awards. Simon and Felicity lead the daily work morning exercise routine in room 519 Puaka-James Hight. They follow most of the exercises listed on the DPI Awareness Programme page. You can join our two celebrities and other devotees at 11:30am Monday-Friday should you be in the vicinity. These exercises are a great way to help avoid discomfort, pain and injury caused by hazards such as sitting a computer workstation for a prolonged period of time. Photos of the presentation are here. Tim S

Happiness makes your brain work better

and

Chocolate makes you happy

so

Happy people are more productive, especially if they have chocolate.

but don’t forget to balance the chocolate eating – exercise also has a feel-good factor.

(Sorry this is a bit late!)

The minutes for the recent Health and Safety Service Group 2 meeting are now available on the H&S Minutes page H&S website

Items of interest:

Traffic management can be difficult on Campus at times dues to the construction work ongoing and about to begin. This brings issues of keeping students and construction work separate, which is not easy at times as we all share the same access routes onto campus.

In a previous counterculture post Jenny asked that we all keep an eye out for skateboard incidents: http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/blogs/counterculture.php?itemid=17847

A new H&S advisor has begun work to cope with the construction jobs that will come online later this year.

There will be elections for Health and Safety reps coming up in July and August. Elections are important as the University runs an employee participation H&S structure allowing direct staff input into Health and Safety issues. The role is not onerous and training is available. If you have any questions please let me know.

Entries for the H&S wellness awards are due on 27th of June.

Tim O’Sullivan

At the recent Health & Safety Service Group meeting Sharon Butt asked all UC staff to send her an email about any incidents or “near miss” instances involving skateboarders or cyclists and pedestrians around UC pathways. They want to get an idea of how often and where these are occurring around campus, either on roads or pathways. If you witness anything please send an email to Sharon Butt describing the incident including where and when it happened.

Jenny

At 11.30am every (work) morning in Library Support Services (Central Library, level 5), you will behold a group of movement devotees led by the charismatic Simon Cooke, waving arms, flexing muscles and stretching necks – gently. The routine, should you be fortunate enough to witness it, ends with something resembling a cross between a Russian Cossack dance and humankind’s first attempts to fly. They are better people for it.

You too can join this happy band, should you be in the vicinity, or you might be inspired to start your own. United we exercise, divided we tend not to. We follow most of the exercises listed on the DPI Awareness Programme page, here: exercises designed to reduce strain injuries

Tuition in the LSS Routine Special Ending is available upon request.

Felicity

Keyboard use

Forceful pressing on the keys can lead to muscle fatigue. A computer user should not hold a pen while keying, or hold a telephone between the ear and shoulder. Watch for resting positions or micropauses that do not allow complete relaxation of the hand and forearm. One common posture error is continuing to hold the hands up after typing has ceased.

Accident Compensation Corporation. (2010). Guidelines for computers: Preventing and managing discomfort, pain and injury. Retrieved from http://www.goo.gl/yVi5Nv

Caroline Anderson

Event Notification
On Wednesday 28th of May, the UCSA will be hosting an event which will see two motorised chilly bins being raced around a custom built course on S Block Lawn. The event has been approved by UC Security and Health and Safety. Racing will commence at 11am and will run until 2pm, please be aware that the motorised engines sound a bit like a moped and that you may hear this from your office. This event is part of our campus activation initiative, which aims to bring life to the campus and encourage student participation.

If you have questions or comments please contact my manager directly;
Sara Luckman
UCSA Media & Events Manager
Sara.luckman@ucsa.canterbury.ac.nz
Ext 3983

Regards,
Sarah Smith events@ucsa.canterbury.ac.nz

Your mouse should be kept as close as possible to your keyboard to prevent excessive reaching.

Most keyboards are set up with the mouse on the right-hand side but left-hand mousing is often encouraged because it:
-Allows the mouse to be closer to you ie you don’t need to reach past the number pad to use the mouse
-Frees your right hand for other tasks
-Is useful for right handers to ‘spread the load’

When swapping from right to left-hand mousing:
-Avoid using a dedicated right hand mouse, use a symmetrical one
-Swap your right and left mouse buttons so that you can use your left index finger as the main selector
-Start on a quiet day when you can have some unpressured practice

Nicola